Baltimore Beach Volleyball had probably its most famous participant show up Monday night. He's not a volleyball player.
NFL Most Valuable Player and Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was a surprise visitor at Rash Field in the Inner Harbor, according to SouthBMore.com and Washington Capitals blog Russian Machine Never Breaks, along with some Panthers teammates. They apparently were coming from the Under Armour facilities. (Newton is a spokesman for the company.)
According to Russian Machine Never Breaks, Newton asked whether he and his teammates could play four-on-four in the Men's 2A League. "Cam also pointed out that he wouldn't take any pictures unless he got to play," a bystander told the site. "Todd [Webster, owner of Baltimore Beach Volleyball,] was a bit hesitant to cut into league members playing time and politely asked the guys, who were up next, and if any of the teams are willing to give up their court to play with NFL players. Well, that wasn't much of a question to the guys on Court 1."
The fun and games lasted for about an hour, after which the players posed for photos. There's not much of a record of Newton's career in volleyball, but he ran a 4.59-second 40-yard dash, jumped 35 inches and measured in at 6 feet 5 at the NFL scouting combine before his rookie year, so it's fair to assume he was OK.